HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, Nov 11: The high voltage campaign for the five assembly seats going for by-elections ended on Monday. This time, the Samaguri assembly constituency has witnessed sporadic pre-poll violence with frequent clashes between the BJP and Congress supporters.
By-elections in five assembly constituencies—Dholai, Samaguri, Behali, Bongaigaon, and Sidli became due following the elections of five legislators in the lower house of the parliament in this years’ Lok Sabha polls.
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The voting will take place on November 13 and the counting of votes will happen on November 23.
Except in Samaguri, where Congress heavyweight Rakibul Hussain has been winning since 2001, the rest of the four seats are with the BJP-led alliance. According to pollsters, due to the dominance of Muslim voters in the Samaguri seat, Congress has an edge over the BJP in this seat.
The BJP fielded candidates for three seats—Dholai, Samaguri and Behali.
Diplu Ranjan Sarma was given ticket in Samaguri, while Diganta Ghatowar and Nihar Ranjan Das are contesting for the BJP in the Behali and Dholai assembly segments respectively.
BJP’s two allies—Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) are contesting polls in the Bongaigaon and Sidli assembly constituencies.
Meanwhile, Samaguri assembly constituency has witnessed sporadic pre-poll violence with supporters of BJP and Congress clashing with each other on several occasions.
On late Saturday night when suspected armed criminals opened fire on a BJP march that included Barhampur MLA Jitu Goswami, injuring at least three people.
Attackers targeted BJP politicians taking part in the march, including MLA Goswami in the Moriputhi neighborhood of Samaguri.
According to witnesses, the attackers first pelted stones at the participants before striking them with sticks. Three people were then hurt when unidentified persons opened fire on the group. The attack also caused some damage to Goswami’s car.
Reacting to the incident, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma aimed at Congress party alleging that the opposition party which does photo-op with the Constitution is actually resorting to violence and attacking the BJP workers.
Taking to X, Sarma wrote, “I strongly condemn the attack on Hon’ble MLA Shri Jitu Goswami in Samaguri by @INCAssam supporters. This is the same Congress that proudly holds up the Constitution for the cameras, yet resorts to violence under cover of darkness to intimidate our karyakartas.”
The chief minister also claimed that Congress has resorted to violence not because of fearing the defeat in the elections rather its fundamental vote bank has made the opposition workers for doing such extreme things.
“The real question is, why has Congress stooped to such depths in this by-election? It’s not just fear of defeat but the desperation to hold on to their core vote bank that drives them to such extremes. Justice will be served, and we will not allow anyone to sabotage or undermine our democratic process,” he added.
However, the Congress MP Rakibul Hussain claimed that the opposition party workers came under attack from the BJP supporters in different places and the ruling orchestrated violence to derail the campaign of Congress candidate Tanzil Hussain.
Meanwhile, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) decided to stay out of the polls and they did not give ticket for the by-elections.
Ajmal said, “We are not contesting the by-elections and our party will concentrate on the panchayat polls which is due for a long time in Assam. In this scenario, I appeal to voters of five assembly constituencies where bypolls will take place to cast their vote in favour of a secular candidate.”
The AIUDF leader also mentioned that he did not field any candidate in the Samaguri assembly seat to help ‘nephew’ Tanzil Hussain.
Notably, Tanzil Hussain is the son of Congress MP and former minister Rakibul Hussain.
Ajmal was defeated by Rakibul Hussain by more than 10 lakh votes in AIUDF bastion Dhubri—a seat he represented in the lower house of the parliament for 15 years.
